Flashback 3/18/2003: Dean commits to public financing for campaign

[Feanorcurufinwe]

Howard Dean committed Friday to taking taxpayer dollars to finance his presidential campaign while fellow Democrat John Kerry laid the groundwork to do the same with a letter to donors suggesting they could double their money by helping him qualify.

In fact, only donors’ first $250 gets matched by the government.

Like Dean, Al Sharpton, former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich are committed to taking public financing and the spending limits that come with it, aides said. They are trying to raise the required amounts – $5,000 from each of 20 states in contributions of $250 or less – to qualify for the public money.

Former Vermont Gov. Dean said he has already met the requirement. He promised to make it an issue in the Democratic primaries if any of his rivals decide to skip public financing, as President Bush did en route to winning the Republican nomination in 2000.

“It will be a huge issue,” Dean said. “I think most Democrats believe in campaign finance reform.”
http://timesargus.nybor.com/Local/Story/61946.html

What does the word 'commitment' mean to Dean? Apparently not the same thing it means to me.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

1. He can now 'blame' it on his supporters

whom he told to reject it in their vote.

[nocreativename]

27. say what you will

It's going to take a lot of money to beat Bush inc. And since Bush inc has forgone the match dollars then we have too.

Since most the of the money comes from reg. people like me. I don't see this as a bad thing.

[xultar]

2. Things that make you go Hummmmm.....

But you gotta spend the dough if you wanna beat da Chimp.
I don't blame ya Brother Dean. Do whatcha gotta do!

I hope Clark raises enough dough so he doesn't have to accept the fed funds.

[helleborient]

3. And if John Kerry were in the position right now...

To tell supporters to stop sending in checks, because he couldn't accept anymore.

What do you think his supporters would tell him to do?

[Cocoa]

4. Kerry kept his options open

he didn't committ to staying in the system, and he got lambasted from the Dean supporters for it.

Dean got points for his leadership back then.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

9. Dean's not very good at committing to anything

he seems to change his mind a lot.

[helleborient]

12. He's not changed his mind about defeating George W. Bush (n/t)

[Feanorcurufinwe]

17. Lust for power -- what an admirable trait.

[sandnsea]

11. I didn't want him to opt out anyway

Regardless of what Dean did. The Democratic Party has lost credibility on campaign finance, thanks to Howard Dean.

In any event, John Kerry made the decision, by himself, like a leader is supposed to do.

[helleborient]

13. John McCain, most credible leader on campaign finance,

Said that Dean did the right thing...did John McCain willingly destroy his credibility for Howard Dean?

I don't think so.

[sandnsea]

23. I do

I don't see how someone can say get the money out of politics and then support those who do the exact opposite. We had a huge issue in the amount of money Bush was raising in the election next year and who he was raising the money from, now it's gone. This was stupid for the election and stupid for the Democratic Party.

[UnapologeticLiberal]

50. You didn't get to vote, did you?

Did you get to vote on whether to opt out?

[Feanorcurufinwe]

56. I'm glad it was able to make you 'Feel So Good'

[killbotfactory]

5. Yes, we know. We don't care.

If we did, we would have voted no.

[LuminousX]

6. LOL

Good point

[Feanorcurufinwe]

7. You don't care if Dean keeps his promises. Will the voters agree?

[LuminousX]

8. Luckily we are holding elections, so we will get our answer

[helleborient]

10. Yes, we know Kerry supporters think Howard Dean lies...

And John Kerry lies about the existence of polls (the one having him leading Hillary Clinton) and magazine articles (the one supposedly rating his health care plan best).

Is there anything new here to say?

[killbotfactory]

15. Situations change. Nobody knew how much Dean could pull in...

from small donations.

Now that he can, it makes no sense to stop. There is no point in obeying a reform that allows your opponent to raise unlimited amounts of cash from $2000 donors, and then handicaps your ability to raise from small donors giving whatever they can afford.

That's why no one cares.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

16. Right. Promises mean nothing to Dean.

When he makes a promise, it is only good as long as the situation doesn't change. Comforting.

[killbotfactory]

18. Keep harping on it. I'll continue to not care.

It makes sense and is in keeping with the reason for campaign finance reform. There's no point sticking to a counter-productive law.

[Cocoa]

19. has the law changed since March?

if it's counterproductive now, then it was counterproductive then.

[killbotfactory]

25. No, but there has been a just the way funds are raised.

There is nothing wrong or corrupting about raising lots of money from ordinary people donating small funds.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

20. I'm sure Dean could do nothing that would change your opinion of him.

So what? Your opinion is worth as much as anyone else's opinion.

[helleborient]

21. And what could John Kerry do to change yours?

Lies aren't one, apparently. But you do seem to think if a "lie" on the same level is part of Dean's campaign, we should all abandon him for someone who does the same thing.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

28. Your smear is totally baseless and false.

You accuse Kerry of lying. Let's hear it. What is this supposed lie?

[killbotfactory]

26. Dean rocks.

He made a promise, wised up, laid out his case, and let his supporters in on the issue. As the vote proves, they don't have a problem with it.



I'm sorry you have to resort to harping on a non-issue to help Kerry's floundering campaign.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

29. You think breaking a promise is a positive for Dean?

OK. You are entitled to your opinion.

[killbotfactory]

30. If he has a good reason, and he did.

It's not big deal.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

31. I'm sure Bush supporters say he has good reasons for breaking his promises

as well. :puke:

[killbotfactory]

37. So you would want Kerry to stick to a promise he made even if...

There was little point to do so, he made a valid case as to why he should break it, and/or situations changed under which the promise was made?

Okay then...

[Feanorcurufinwe]

39. Kerry doesn't make promises he can't keep.

[RevolutionStartsNow]

40. That's nice, but...

I don't want a candidate who is unwilling to budge. Looking at the statement Dean made several months ago, and looking at the situation we are now in, 85% of Dean's supporters who voted decided that it was better to opt out. This was a smart decision.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

42. You don't mind Dean breaking his promises - OK.

[RevolutionStartsNow]

54. Not this one. It's too important. nt

[sfecap]

43. Saint John?...never! LOL.

At the center of power, seeking the summit

By John Aloysius Farrell, Globe Staff, 6/21/2003

(snip)

The candidates made a personal pledge to each other to abide by a cap on overall spending and media costs. They also agreed not to spend more than $500,000 in personal wealth. But in the final weeks, with Weld outspending Kerry, the incumbent blew off the cap, mortgaged the Beacon Hill townhouse he jointly owned with his wife, and poured $1.7 million into his campaign kitty. He claimed Weld was buying more media time than their agreement allowed, but there was scant evidence to back that up.

http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/062103_p.shtml

Hard to pull for Kerry
By Brian McGrory, Globe Columnist, 9/16/2003

(snip)

So let's go back to 1996, to Kerry's reelection campaign against then-Governor Bill Weld, specifically to the night Weld met Kerry at the senator's wife's Beacon Hill mansion. They finalized an unprecedented agreement to limit advertising spending to $5 million apiece, and to limit the use of personal funds in the campaign to $500,000 apiece.

Good government types hailed the agreement as a major breakthrough. Kerry and Weld basked in the plaudits of editorialists the nation over. Kerry described the pact as "a model for campaign reform across the country."

But a funny thing happened on the way to Election Day. Kerry didn't just violate the deal, he pulverized it. Running out of money in the waning days of October, Kerry mortgaged and remortgaged the Louisburg Square house, ultimately pouring $1.7 million in personal funds into his campaign. For those of you keeping track at home, that's $1.2 million more than the agreement allowed.

As he made a mockery of the pact, he did something else distinctly distasteful. He accused Weld of violating the agreement, a charge that seemed specious at best, an outright lie at worst.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2003/09/16/hard_to_pull_for_kerry/

Here's another broken promise:

(snip)

In 1992, for example, Kerry announced he was going to launch an initiative on race, crime, and the problems of urban America. He gave the opening speech of a promised series at Yale University, warning about the costs of a "culture of dependency. . . . We must ask whether is the result of a massive shift in the psychology of our nation that some argue grew out of the excesses of the 1960s, a shift from self-reliance to indulgence and dependence, from caring to self-indulgence, from public accountability to public abdication and chaos," the former antiwar protester said.

The civil rights movement, Kerry warned, had evolved into a legalistic and divisive struggle over affirmative action quotas that alienated white voters. "The truth is that affirmative action has kept America thinking in racial terms," he said.

It was a daring speech for a liberal politician. To some, it appeared as if Kerry was genuflecting toward Little Rock, where Bill Clinton was running for president on a platform that included personal accountability, "ending welfare as we know it," and support for capital punishment -- and might need a northern Democrat to balance the ticket that November. After Clinton chose a fellow southerner, Senator Al Gore of Tennessee, as his running mate, Kerry quietly dropped the series of speeches he had promised to make on race relations.

http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/062103_p.shtml

[Feanorcurufinwe]

46. He promised to give a speech and then didn't - what a breach of trust.

[sfecap]

47. So...you're parsing "promise" now?

He promised to give a series of speeches. Evidently he did it just to pander for the VP nom. When it didn't get it....he didn't care anymore to talk about the subject.

He also promised to limit spending when he ran against Weld. He broke the promise, citing a specious and lame reason.

He's an opportunist and liar.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

53. A promise is a promise.

There is no difference between promising to pick up butter on the way home, promising to give a speech, promising to live to a higher ethic, or promising to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. All those promises are equal.

[Padraig18]

14. *Yawn*

I voted 'yes'. Why go into a gunfight armed with a pocket knife? :eyes:

[genius]

22. Dean looted the Vermont funds for public elections to give breaks

to corporation. He's real Park Avenue.

[Cocoa]

24. that sounds made up to me

if you made that up, why?

[Feanorcurufinwe]

33. Perhaps overstated, but not made up

Dean did indeed try to gut Vermont's public finance fund (his effort was defeated). But to say this was directly to give breaks to corporations would be going to far.

Governor Dean's Plan to Remove Funding

Early on in the 2002 legislative session, Democratic Governor Howard Dean targeted the public financing provision of the law for elimination. VPIRG led the effort to preserve funding for public financing of qualifying candidates. The Governor claimed that the law was not working and therefore should not be funded until a final court decision has been reached. Working with Republicans, Progressives and Democrats, VPIRG was able to keep public financing alive (although hundreds of thousands of dollars were taken for other unrelated uses). Read more on this issue.
http://www.vpirg.org/campaigns/financeReform/cfr_page111.html

[Pez]

38. dean's ping-pong policy positions

2002: toss out CFR!

early 2003: i will take serious issue with any democrat that opts out of CFR.

november 2003: toss out CFR!

[9119495]

32. I'll take that link.

I doubt the truth of this claim. The Vermont Education Association endorsed him for governor. This doesn't seem likely if he wasn't acting in there interests.

Note: The VEA doesn't endorse if there is no close race so Gov. Dean did not receive five endorsements. The VEA NEVER edorsed one of his opponents.

[UnapologeticLiberal]

51. The public finance system in Vermont fell apart...

when a federal judge struck down the spending limits, making the whole thing useless. Since nobody was using the money for elections, Dean eventually transferred that money back to the general fund. Big deal.

[Upfront]

34. Yawn

:nopity:

[Feanorcurufinwe]

35. Wake up! Your candidate is breaking his promises!

[RevolutionStartsNow]

36. If he didn't opt out, I'd be disappointed

If Dean came out and said that he was going to stick with public financing because of his earlier statement, I'd be pissed. He has the opportunity to level the playing field, and I (along with 85% of his supporters) am glad he's taking it.

Yes he could stand on what he said many months ago before he knew what would happen, but I'd be disappointed in him.

When Kerry said "There will be no changes" in the campaign staff, and then fired Jordan, did he break a promise? No, he did what he had to do, and so did Dean.

I want to win, and I support this move 100%. Seize the day.

[curse10]

41. I'm just waiting for his supporters to run out of money

Even if he gets the nod I'm not giving him my money. His and his supporters hubris on this issue is astounding.

[Padraig18]

45. 'Hubris', or a recognition of reality?

I hear lots of high-flown rhetoric about this, but the only realism I ever hear on the subject comes from the Dean and Clark supporters. Might it be that Gov. dean has the most money because people believe in his message?

[mzmolly]

44. Thank Goodness he wised up..."The People vs. George Bush"

I'd say that IS campaign finance reform.

Add me to the list of Dean supporters who dont give a damn.

However, I believe he added that he didn't believe in 'personally' financing his prez run. Whoda thunk he'd raise the kinda dough he has huh?

I wonder how long before Kerry and the others follow suit? Any bets...?

[Feanorcurufinwe]

49. Kerry never pledged to accept financing.

Dean did.

[Padraig18]

52. Yawn. n/t

[Feanorcurufinwe]

57. G'Nite. Have a good sleep.

[UnapologeticLiberal]

48. This is old news

His change of position on this issue has already been brought out and duly noted. I think that when he said that, he had no idea how much money he would be able to raise from individual citizens...nobody has ever raised so much from ordinary people before. And I voted to stay within the system but I think the campaign made the right decision to opt out...if I were not confident that opting out would pass overwhelmingly I may have voted differently.

[RevolutionStartsNow]

55. Agreed, though I voted to opt out

But the facts won't stop the frantic "but he broke his promise!" posts.

[ThirdWheelLegend]

58. ok I don't want to drag this out...

but the logic here is amazing...

HE SAID HE WOULD HOLD HIMSELF AND OTHERS TO THE STANDARD. THEN HE BREAKS IT.

How is this not breaking his word??!?!

The reasons ARE MEANINGLESS. The simple fact is he went back on his word. Does not matter if you think its wrong or right. HE BROKE HIS WORD.

You may respond and disagree, but there are no other sides to this. He said it was a standard he would keep, and then he decided not to. No two ways about it. Do not use the vote excuse. If he was going to hold himself to it he would not have allowed a 'vote' to let him back out.


TWL